Are you there, God? It's me, [Democratic Primaries]

tuxkamen

Next up:

West Virginia. Does Obama take a week off?

Hillary sure doesn't:

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton says she will remain in the presidential race "until there's a nominee." The former first lady declined to say whether that meant through the roll call of the states at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Clinton also disclosed that she had loaned her campaign an additional $6.4 million in recent weeks, additional evidence that her once front-runner campaign was in deep trouble.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama pocketed the support of at least four Democratic convention superdelegates on Wednesday, building on the momentum from a convincing North Carolina primary victory.

To continue the thought from last thread, that the Republicans 'are looking for someone to embody the neocon spirit' so it can get crushed:

Uh, when, exactly, is that person joining the race? McCain is not merely an imperfect vessel, he's a teacup with no handle and a lid that only comes halfway off.


DELEGATE COUNT AS OF OP:

Obama: 1588 pledged, 259 super = 1847 total
Clinton: 1422 pledged, 273.5 super = 1695.5 total

Obama is 178 away, and there are 262.5 unpledged remaining.

All hail Chuck Todd, Our Dark Lord of Delegate Math.

EDIT:

Ramius wrote: »

Holy cats, I got the headline on TPM.

All hail Ramius.

WMain00

Clinton Vows to continue on.

Clinton vows to continue campaign
Hillary Clinton campaigning in West Virginia, 7 May 2007
Mrs Clinton loaned her campaign $6.4m last month

Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton has vowed to continue her campaign despite losing ground in the latest primary contests and her financial problems.

Mrs Clinton beat rival Barack Obama by just two points in Indiana's primary, while he won by 14 in North Carolina.

The votes were the final major Democratic primaries which help decide the party's White House candidate.

Mrs Clinton is also facing a funding crisis - she was forced to loan her campaign $6.4m (£3.3m) last month.

Unhealthy sign

Speaking to reporters, she pledged to remain in the race "until the nominee is chosen", although she did not reveal whether this meant she would stay in until the party's nominating convention in August.

Mrs Clinton also appealed to supporters for more funds to carry on the fight.

That is not a healthy sign, says the BBC's Justin Webb in West Virginia, where Mrs Clinton is campaigning.

Contributors will not throw money at what they see as a lost cause, and without daily infusions of cash, presidential campaigns cannot survive, our correspondent says.


PRIMARY RESULTS
North Carolina
Senator Obama 56%
Senator Clinton 42%
Indiana
Senator Clinton 51%
Senator Obama 49%
Figures from AP

In pictures: US primaries
Who are the delegates?
Send us your comments

Mrs Clinton's campaign has also been rocked by the defection of former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern.

Mr McGovern, who is not a super-delegate and will therefore not have a vote at the party's nominating convention, had been publicly supportive of Mrs Clinton, but has opted to switch his endorsment to Mr Obama, and has called on Mrs Clinton to withdraw from the race.

Mr Obama is leading the race in delegates who will choose the presidential nominee by 1,840 to 1,684, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Race split

Speaking to a raucous rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday night, Mr Obama said: "Tonight we stand less than 200 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination for president of the United States."

Analysts said Mr Obama's win was vital after a recent difficult campaign stretch.

He has been dogged by controversy over his gaffe that small-town residents were "bitter", and racially charged comments by his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

A win in Indiana was seen as critical for Mrs Clinton to stay in the race to stand against Republican John McCain in November's presidential vote.

At her election gathering in the Indiana state capital, Indianapolis, she told cheering supporters it was "full speed on to the White House".

But despite her defiant words, Mrs Clinton seems to have lost some of her trademark fighting spirit, says BBC Washington correspondent Jonathan Beale.


I honestly believe that she will find a way to get out of the race before the next primaries
John Zogby
US pollster

Clinton 'heading for the exit'
Democratic voters' reaction

The rivals, courting voters suffering from an ailing economy, spent recent days sparring over Mrs Clinton's proposal to suspend the federal petrol tax for the summer.

Mid-western Indiana is home to large numbers of blue-collar workers, a bloc which has backed Mrs Clinton in previous contests.

According to exit polls conducted for AP, about two-thirds of white voters in both states who had not completed a college education supported Mrs Clinton.

In North Carolina, Mr Obama won the backing of 90% of the state's African-American voters, who make up more than a third of the state's electorate.

Mrs Clinton won 58% of non-black voters in the state, according to the polls.

Barack Obama's North Carolina victory speech

There are just six primary contests left: West Virginia, Oregon, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.

Because the race is so tight, nearly 800 super-delegates - senior party members - will have the final say at the party convention in August.

Many super-delegates say they will vote for the candidate chosen in the primary of their home state.

The Republicans also held primaries in Indiana and North Carolina on Tuesday, but the votes were largely symbolic as Senator John McCain has effectively secured the nomination.

It never ends...

WMain00

*looks up*

Now who got here first? ¬_¬

Hilger

I like this one better since I don't have to scroll through a long double-spaced wall of text to get to the posts.

!support

Houn

So, Obama won NC with a comfortable lead. When do we expect Edwards to endorse?

WMain00

To be honest he's two minutes faster than me. Fairs fair! ^_^

Now how to close my thread...

EDIT: Could somebody just lock and delete my thread please. Sorry.

Medopine

Delegate count gooooo

Preacher

Houn wrote: »

So, Obama won NC with a comfortable lead. When do we expect Edwards to endorse?

For clinton, within a few days. He always struck me as a bit of a retard.

nexuscrawler

The neocon spirit is dead

ZeroCow

Hillary just wants to be like Huckabee. Only I disagree with Huckabee's policies, but find the man hilarious in interviews and Hillary is just the opposite.

WMain00

I reckon we need a good Scorched Earth image to represent Clinton's continual refusal to bow out.

kildy

The Clinton campaign disputes the August 27th convention date used by the DNC. A proper primary wouldn't end before November First, and they will not accept any calls to end it before then.


So does anyone else find it rather bold to flat out state they do not consider the DNC's delegate counts valid? It's a DNC contest. Their rules are the only rules. A player on the field in a game cannot simply make up new rules.

Ethan Smith

180 left for Obama.

tuxkamen

Houn wrote: »

So, Obama won NC with a comfortable lead. When do we expect Edwards to endorse?

Approximately ten seconds after we expect anyone to care?

Seriously, he had his chance. I would, in fact, be kind of surprised if he gets 'the slot' that the upcoming winner has purportedly promised.

To go back a bit farther:

Delzhand wrote: »

They want someone who will embody the neocon spirit and get trounced so that the Pubs can get back to being the party of conservative government and state's rights.

So apart from the concept of 'neoconservative spirit', the Republicans have more or less completely inverted. I'm not sure that they *can* get back to that, or even should, when 'strong government' is their desire. They've also quite obviously lost their grip on fiscal sensibilities.

kildy

WE MUST UNITE THE THREADS FOR THE GOOD OF THE PARTY

I think we should all endorse a thread before June 1st.

KalTorak

WMain00 wrote: »

I reckon we need a good Scorched Earth image to represent Clinton's continual refusal to bow out.

Houn

tuxkamen wrote: »

Houn wrote: »

So, Obama won NC with a comfortable lead. When do we expect Edwards to endorse?

Approximately ten seconds after we expect anyone to care?

Seriously, he had his chance. I would, in fact, be kind of surprised if he gets 'the slot' that the upcoming winner has purportedly promised.

I dunno. I thought there were still some delegates hanging around in his name from before he dropped out. An endorsement could bring those into the Obama camp.

Medopine

Mailin' mah ballot, mailin' mah ballot

Whee

galenblade

Jennifer McClellan, a VA state rep, DNC member, and superdelegate, has flipped from Clinton to Obama.

tuxkamen

Medopine wrote: »

Delegate count gooooo

Updated OP.

Ethan Smith

kildy wrote: »

WE MUST UNITE THE THREADS FOR THE GOOD OF THE PARTY

I think we should all endorse a thread before June 1st.

This. The day before the convention, merge all of the primary threads together.

tuxkamen

galenblade wrote: »

Jennifer McClellan, a VA state rep, DNC member, and superdelegate, has flipped from Clinton to Obama.

If that's confirmed, it'll then be:

Obama: 1588 pledged, 260 super = 1848 total
Clinton: 1422 pledged, 272.5 super = 1694.5 total

Obama is 177 away, and there are 262.5 unpledged remaining.

WMain00

You must be insane! Such merging will cause a flux in the continuum. Matter will become antimatter. Clinton's face will melt!

RandomEngy

I hope this will at least knock some sort of sense into Clinton and get her to stop attacking Obama.

Preacher

galenblade wrote: »

Jennifer McClellan, a VA state rep, DNC member, and superdelegate, has flipped from Clinton to Obama.

Just another brick in the wall. Hasn't there been a stat that Obama hasn't had any of his supers go clinton but she has lost like 20?

Qingu

Do we have any early quotes by Clinton, on Youtube or something, where she outright says their votes shouldn't be counted?

Malkor

There's the lovely Olberman thing...

RandomEngy

And don't forget the Clinton supers who said they would switch if Obama got the popular vote.

tuxkamen

Ethan Smith wrote: »

kildy wrote: »

WE MUST UNITE THE THREADS FOR THE GOOD OF THE PARTY

I think we should all endorse a thread before June 1st.

This. The day before the convention, merge all of the primary threads together.

I am willing to seat the threads from G&T and H&A in the interest of uniting our front against SE++ in the fall, but only after the current process has completed. Like it or not, there were rules in this contest--rules which we, and the vast majority of the forum, adhered to...whereas a few disgruntled moderators who wished to inflate their own subforums' importance felt it necessary to break those rules.

tuxkamen

Qingu wrote: »

Do we have any early quotes by Clinton, on Youtube or something, where she outright says their votes shouldn't be counted?

Something about Michigan?

tuxkamen

The Washington Post has a nicer article about the Michigan flip-flop.

Having said that, it's hard to say at the time--when she was still considered likely to win--that her rationale was that far off, versus its current stink of desperation:

Second Place wrote:

"It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything," Clinton said Thursday during an interview on New Hampshire Public Radio's call-in program, "The Exchange." "But I just personally did not want to set up a situation where the Republicans are going to be campaigning between now and whenever, and then after the nomination, we have to go in and repair the damage to be ready to win Michigan in 2008."

Just_Bri_Thanks

For those who didn't see it:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-oMjmwiUA

Der Waffle Mous

Barackula: The Musical.

deowolf

First thing I see on CNN today? Toddler smoking pot.

I know little guy, but let's not party too hard yet. She's still around.

zerg rush

So, is it true that if Hillary's campaign gets splashed with holy water, it takes 1d4+3 damage?

kildy

First Read doesn't even kind of pull punches:

Filed Under: Democrats, 2008, Clinton, Huckabee

nexuscrawler

KalTorak wrote: »

WMain00 wrote: »

I reckon we need a good Scorched Earth image to represent Clinton's continual refusal to bow out.

tuxkamen

nexuscrawler wrote: »

KalTorak wrote: »

WMain00 wrote: »

I reckon we need a good Scorched Earth image to represent Clinton's continual refusal to bow out.

Why, yes, it does say you can burn X land cards to destroy X lands.

...or were you making a different point?

KungFu

I really like the contrast between the media headlines and Clinton's Indiana 'victory' speech.

Full speed indeed.


edit: Look at Bill's face:

Preacher

kildy wrote: »

First Read doesn't even kind of pull punches:

Filed Under: Democrats, 2008, Clinton, Huckabee

Ouch.

kildy

I felt like glancing at Taylor Marsh.

It's a toss up between accepting that Clinton isn't winning this, thus we should all be Democrats First, and hammering Russert for calling the nomination for Obama.